Hello again. Happy Monday. Are you looking forward to your week? We are definitely looking forward to our nature journaling workshop this Saturday. We sure hope to see you there…Until then, we’re here to provide a little inspiration for working some nature exploration into your week. We promise it’ll be fun!The following activities have been inspired by all the beautiful green growth outside as well as a lovely book titled Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Whether you are 3 or 93 or somewhere in between, give them a try and have fun!

Matching Green: Have you seen our color walk cards in the childrens’ area? Would you like to have your own? Head to your favorite paint supplier and collect some paint chips. Try to choose shades of green close to what you have seen in nature. Punch holes in them and attach to a key ring. Head outside and see how many of them you can match.

Creating Green: Put some green paint on a paint pallet or paper plate along with some white and black paint. Try slowly adding some white or black to the green and paint that color onto some paper. Now add a little more and add it to your painting. Experiment further by adding yellow, blue, and purple. What do your shades of green look like now? By the time you are done you’ll have a lovely green color study that just might be fridge worthy.

Journaling Green: Now that you’ve experimented with making different shades of green, take your nature journal and paint supplies or colored pencils outside. Stop at a few different plants, draw a quick sketch, maybe add a description, and try to match the color. You’ll have captured the freshness of spring in your journal. Maybe you can even visit the same plant in the summer and see if the color has changed any…

If you would like to share photos of any of these activities that you have tried, we would love to see them! You might see them in a TPL Gardens photo gallery!

With spring just around the corner, many of us may be having visions of bright colors, budding trees, and lovely flowers fluttering through our minds. Here at the library, we are anxiously awaiting seeing the beauty of our gardens in bloom!

This month provides many opportunities to brighten our lives and homes and celebrate the renewal of life. Some of us may also be thinking about egg decorating.

We suggest experimenting with some natural dyes that you can make yourself at home.

In our neck of the woods, we may not be able to harvest from our gardens this time of year, but there are plenty of items available to use to get some beautiful colors. You may even have some already in your spice cupboard or refrigerator. Just click on the following links for some inspiration:

As I look at the calendar and think about the upcoming holidays, I’m also starting to think of snow. It’ll be here soon. But I still want to hold on to the beauty that the fall season has to offer. I’m not quite ready to slip into winter.If you are feeling the same, here are some wonderful nature crafts that would put all those pressed leaves, collected acorns and pinecones, and miscellaneous treasures from nature to creative use: